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In the past couple of months weve all had quite the treat watching the pissing contest over at Marvel. If you dont know what Im talking about you can either consider yourself lucky or head over to Newsarama and check it out. However, reading what folks have posted about this subject, and the tangents theyve gone off on, resulted in me constantly shaking my head in disbelief and/or outright laughing.
Now dont get me wrong. People are welcome to their opinions, and I dont consider mine to be any more important/correct than anyone elses, but I had some serious problems trying to see how people were able to compare titles like Captain Marvel, Spider-Girl and Black Panther to any of the X-Men or Spider-Man titles on an even scale. Why arent they even? Because youre comparing characters that are icons with ones that are not.
It was after Peter David made the suggestion of raising the price of X-books to offset the lower sales of other titles when I noticed the first comparison arguments fly. People were actually arguing that it was COMPLETELY the fault of the low selling titles not having what it took to get readers on board that was leading to their downfall. So am I supposed to go with this train of logic and believe that the high selling titles do so because they have what it takes to get readers on board? Dont make me laugh . . . again.
Many of these high selling titles are where they are currently because they are icons with a connection to mainstream society. Yes, folks, there does exist a society beyond that of the comic reader. You see, these are the people who come into the world of comics through shows or movies, which is exactly how I came into it. Now, I understand that many of these titles were successful before they branched out into other formats, and that is why they had the opportunity to do so. However, much of their current popularity has to do with the roots that they set into mainstream society in the past.
In my "real life" job I deal with adolescents constantly, and I tend to wear comic related shirts and apparel when the opportunity is presented (yes thats right, Im a danger seeker). My Superman cap has always been easily recognized, but only since the premiere of Justice League on Cartoon Network has my Green Lantern shirt (GL Corps style) been recognized by a large number of the kids. How about other Green Lanterns? Do you think the Kyle Rayner style shirt would be easily recognized by a large number of kids? Maybe. How about Alan Scotts style? Not unless theyre actually a comic reader.
With the creation of the Justice League television show the JLA title, and Justice League Adventures, has an immediate advantage over many other books in the DC family of titles. Lets look at an example. The April 2002 sales report from Diamond had JSA ranked twenty positions below JLA, which to me is understandable only from the standpoint of identifying with icon characters. Ive been reading both titles since the start and for me JSA has had stronger stories more consistently than JLA hands down. So now youre wondering why the JSA isnt currently suffering the same scrutiny as those Marvel titles that are in danger right? Well, the JSA has a little thing called history going for it. Many of the JSA characters have been around for quite a while, or at least a previous incarnation has, and that allowed many long time comic readers to confidently pick up a book with once popular characters, or names. Looking at the idea of popular characters, or names, JLA and JSA would be close to even ground in the comic reading community, but once you add the factor of icons that are connected to society outside of the comic community JLA easily jumps ahead. Does this make JLA a better title? No. It makes it a better SELLING title, which is a world of difference to almost anyone who ISNT a bean counter at a company.
Still with me? Good, now lets get back to where this all started, the Marvel comparisons. Lets start a title race with the easy thing first, history. X-Men, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and Black Panther have either characters, or incarnations of them, established in Marvel history. Spider-Girl has a name that is a variant of another popular character, so it manages to keep up. Looking at popularity of characters the X-Men and Spider-Man titles easily pull away from the others. Now lets add in the icon factors of live television series, animated television series, and movies. Its about this time that Captain Marvel, Black Panther and Spider-Girl find themselves being lapped. Plus, with the media outside the standard comic book being used by X-Men and Spider-Man they become more a part of mainstream society, while the other three titles are still struggling to become more recognized just in the comic community.
Still dont believe me when I say that a mainstream society connection has an effect on a comics sales? I have one word for you
Transformers. The new Transformers title took the #1 slot in the April 2002 sales, and you know that out of all the factors involved in its current incarnation it was the huge number of fans of the Transformers CONCEPT that helped that happen. Believe me when I say that even if the writing is bad the title will still rank high. Its Transformers, its popular, its a part of mainstream society.
What does all of this ranting amount to? First and foremost I advise that you really look at what youre comparing when you try and put two or more comic titles against each other. Do you want whats cool and wont get you teased by your other friends who dont read comics? Are you willing to go out on a limb and stick with a title for more than a couple of issues to really get an understanding of it before you make a final call on its quality? Something that those who work for comic companies, and those who watch the numbers, would do well to remember is that just because a comic doesnt sell high it doesnt mean its NOT quality work, and just because a comic does sell high it doesnt mean it IS quality work. If you want the same old stuff in your comics thats great, and thats what youll get as long as you only buy the titles with icon characters. If you want to see comics continue to change and evolve, then take a chance and check out something that youve heard is good, or look at something new to see if it is good. You may just play a role in creating the next comic icon.
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